


Idiot

by Magz (sparklepocalypse)



Category: Popslash
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-09
Updated: 2015-08-09
Packaged: 2018-04-13 15:50:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4528056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparklepocalypse/pseuds/Magz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Do you think I'm ugly?" JC asks, and Justin starts laughing because, well, that's the general reaction when the most beautiful person you've ever seen wants to know if you find them unattractive.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Idiot

**Author's Note:**

> This is not popslash and I did not write it. Really.

"Do you think I'm ugly?" JC asks, and Justin starts laughing because, well, that's the general reaction when the most beautiful person you've ever seen wants to know if you find them unattractive.

JC looks a little upset. He punches Justin in the stomach - hard enough to hurt, but light enough so that Justin will be able to dance tonight at the venue - and gets up, walking to the back of the bus and disappearing from Justin's sight.

Justin rubs his stomach a little and realizes that JC wasn't joking about the ugly thing.

* * *

  
"JC hit me," Justin says. He flops down on the couch next to Chris and pouts a little when Chris barely looks away from his video game.

"What'd you do?" Chris asks. Mario jumps from cloud to cloud, cheery blips accompanying his every move.

"I laughed at him." Justin is sullen, his brow furrowed as he watches the video game character collect more coins.

Chris pauses the game and looks over at Justin, because something as normal as laughter would never force the JC he knows into committing a violent act of any sort. "Why did you laugh at him?"

Justin looks down at his hands. "He asked me if I think he's ugly."

Chris stares at Justin for a minute, and then cracks up. He falls off the couch, and rolls around on the floor, clutching his sides and laughing until he can't breathe. When he gets up, Justin has gone to his bunk, so he resumes the game.

Justin closes his curtain and fastens the velcro hold on it. He hears a faint chime telling Chris that he won the level.

* * *

  
At the stadium, Joey and Lance corner Justin as he's coming out of the bathroom. Joey's hand connects with the side of his head.

"What the hell are you doing, telling JC he's ugly?" Lance demands, and Justin's a little intimidated because Lance has never glared at him like this before.

Justin swallows hard, hoping his bandmates won't flatten him if he answers wrong. "I never said that," he says, and prepares for some major pain.

"Then why is he sitting in the quiet room, looking like someone kicked his puppy?" Joey asks, and Justin frowns.

"Whatever this is, you'd better fix it before the show," Lance says. He and Joey back off a little. "You saw how soundcheck went."

Justin recalls perfectly the way things hadn't clicked, how the harmonies had been a little off. And when he'd looked over at JC and seen him stiffly practicing a dance move for _Space Cowboy_ even though they were doing a run-through of _Promise_ , he'd lost his place in the verse. He'd had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from swearing in front of the screaming teenies that watched them get prepped for the show.

Justin nods slowly. "I'll go... go," he says vaguely, gesturing a little.

* * *

  
Justin finds JC in the quiet room, curled up in a big easy chair. He walks in and closes the door as softly as he can, then looks at the floor, unsure of what to say. He goes for "Hey," and hopes for the best.

JC grunts a little, and picks at his fingernails.

"Look, I'm..." Justin begins, still admiring the carpet, and he shifts a little on his feet and wishes he could look at JC. "Dammit." He looks up, and JC is just as gorgeous as ever, even if he looks like he might've possibly been crying recently. "I'm really, really bad at this type of thing. And. This afternoon, when you - I." Justin sighs a little and decides to start over. "Jayce." He walks over to JC's chair and kind of melts until he's sitting on the floor with his legs sprawled out. "The thing is."

JC's looking at him now. He blinks twice, waits for Justin to say what he's trying to.

"Do you think I'm ugly?" Justin asks.

JC stares at Justin for a little bit. "I'm not sure what you're saying," he says finally, and Justin's glad that he actually got him to say something, even if it means more explanations.

"Okay, okay. Worth a shot, right? The thing is. You're... gay."

"Um, yes, I knew that before you did. What does that have to do with anything?" JC asks.

Justin runs a frustrated hand over his head. "So, you're gay, and so am I, and there's this whole big gay _thing_ here. And Christ, C, you're probably the. The most... _beautiful_ guy I've ever met, so when you asked me if I think you're ugly, I thought you were joking. I mean, put yourself in my position, for a minute. The guy that made you decide that being straight is overrated asks you if he's a troll. How would you react?"

Justin's gestures and speech patterns become more and more flamboyant as he keeps talking, and JC watches with a weird feeling of almost amusement. But he lets him talk.

"So no, you're not ugly. You're gorgeous, and sexy, and I'm a little bit in love with you and oh my Lord, did I just say that out loud?"

Justin gets up and runs out of the room.

The door swings nearly closed behind him.

JC blinks once more.

* * *

  
A noise in the utility closet he's passing brings JC to a sudden halt. He's been looking for Justin for twenty minutes now, after sitting in a semi-daze for close to ten. They're in a huge building with halls that twist and turn, and there dozens of doors that he's sure nobody's opened in _months_ , if ever.

It's a mop, or maybe a broom, that falls to the floor, he's not sure. He hears the clatter of a wooden handle against concrete, and he stands outside the door for a full minute before he opens it.

Justin's inside, sitting with his knees drawn up against the back wall. He looks small and a little bit scared.

JC hasn't seen him like this since the first night after his mom left, and he was fourteen and homesick, in Germany. He thinks about crouching down, wonders what Justin would do if he tried to hug him the way he used to, but then thinks better of it. He picks up the fallen mop instead, props it up against the wall, and sits down next to Justin. "So."

"Yeah." Justin offers a little, embarrassed smile. "Sorry."

JC shakes his head. "Idiot," he says, and then he leans over and covers Justin's smile with his own.


End file.
